"The problems that Emily has encountered are problems of communication...Stanton dramatizes this cleverly...The plot, though certainly contrived, gives Ms. Stanton room for genuine comedy. The supporting cast, under Kip Fagan’s swift but refreshingly unfevered direction, also delivers the laughs...If 'Today Is My Birthday' sometimes feels too narrowly driven to justify its own premises, it is also capable of great humor and poetry."
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"A hilarious, intricate new comedy...'Today Is My Birthday' is a gift. Most playwrights today get our phone-obsessed, zero-contact reality wrong, but Stanton nails it...Director Kip Fagan turns the New Ohio into a recording studio; Emily often is standing in front of us while the others are walled off in booths behind glass. It’s a rollicking show—you’ll laugh and laugh—but it’s bitter underneath."
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“Telling a story this way can quickly lose its novelty, and when Stanton's story meanders midway, our attention does too. But Fagan guides this unconventional work with enough energy and humor to keep us curious about its soul-searching main character...With the dominance of texting nowadays, however, the play already feels dated...Still, the play's continuous stream of voices adds to the alienating hurly-burly of sound that gives 'Today Is My Birthday' its resonance.”
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“The theatrical equivalent of light comic fiction...None of this is unpleasant, and some of it is honestly amusing, but Stanton juggles so many subplots that the script boils down to a series of comic premises sorely in need of development...These problems are alleviated in part by the charming leading lady and a supporting cast skilled at delivering characterizations with the ease of quick-sketch artists...Results in a play that amuses and irritates in equal measure.”
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